Harold
by Erestor
Summary: A short, bizarre moment in the history of Rivendell: Glorfindel introduces Erestor to his sock puppet.


**Harold**

**by Erestor**

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing pertaining to the _Lord of the Rings. _This story was written for entertainment purposes only.

**Author's Note:** Many thanks to **Arwen**, **Avalon Estel**'s sister, for giving me this idea. I hope it lives up to your expectations!

* * *

Erestor was doing some important work. (All Erestor's work was important.) He was in a quiet, secluded room, in a cloistered section of Imladris, and the only sound was the _scritch-scratch_ of his pen on rough paper.

It was a very peaceful scene.

And then–

"SAY HELLO TO HAROLD, ERESTOR!"

"Aaah!" Ink flew everywhere as Erestor suffered from the Elven equivalent of a near-heart-attack.

"Are you all right?" Glorfindel stood in the doorway, with his hands behind his back, innocent and concerned. Erestor had collapsed back in his chair and was muttering things under his breath.

Glorfindel became worried, since Erestor wasn't replying. "Uh... Erestor? Are you all right?"

"Oh yes, I'm perfectly fine," said Erestor snappishly, recovering and mopping ink off his important work. "Things like this happen to me all the time. You mustn't mind _me_. And if I should just happen to keel over and slide beneath my desk, don't worry. It'll merely be a fit of some sort; nothing too serious."

Glorfindel blinked. Then he smiled brightly and thrust something under Erestor's nose. "This," he announced proudly, "is my friend Harold."

"I really hate to tell you this, since you seem to be so delighted to have a friend," said Erestor, " but that is not Harold, whoever Harold may be. That is a sock."

"Shh!" hissed Glorfindel. "Don't say the 's' word! Harold is a S-O-C-K P-U-P-P-E-T."

"Oh." Erestor was, for once, nearly at a loss for words.

"He doesn't know yet. He thinks he's an Elf," said Glorfindel, in a whisper.

"Glorfindel, I think that perhaps you are indulging your inner child a bit too much," said Erestor.

"Say hello to Harold, Erestor," said Glorfindel cheerfully.

Erestor glared at Harold. To make matters worse, Harold's little sock face stretched into a smile, and he said, in a squeaky voice, "Hello, Erestor!"

Erestor ground his teeth.

"You aren't going to ignore him, are you?" said Glorfindel, with a pout. "How can you ignore him when Harold's being so friendly?"

"Believe me, Glorfindel, ignoring 'Harold' is not the worst thing I could do to him," said Erestor.

"But guess what! Harold has a sister!"

"Oh no..."

"Oh _yes_! Erestor, meet Haroldina!"

Another sock puppet appeared, capering coquettishly on the end of Erestor's desk. Erestor stared at it in disbelief.

"Hello, Erestor!" said Haroldina, in a cute little lisp, so that the words sounded like, "He_woe_, _Ew_ethter!"

"Harold's ear fell off," said Erestor, faintly.

Glorfindel hastily reattached Harold's ear to Harold's cotton head. "Thank you for pointing that out!" shrieked Harold.

Harold and Haroldina did a rambunctious dance, while Glorfindel whistled a lively tune. Erestor stared at the trio, fixated. Then he asked, "Was there a point to all this?"

"I thought you'd like to meet my friends," said Glorfindel.

"Really." Erestor raised his eyebrows.

"Umm... just a moment. I need to confer with Haroldina." Glorfindel and Haroldina turned around and a brief, quiet conversation. Then Glorfindel turned around. "You're right, Erestor," he said. "I didn't come here just so that you could meet Harold and Haroldina."

"Ah. So why did you come?" Erestor smirked a little.

Glorfindel smirked back. "Because Haroldina is secretly in love with you, and she wanted to ask you for a lock of your hair, but she was too shy!"

"What?" gasped Erestor.

Glorfindel grabbed a pair of scissors. "Just hold still, my friend! I wouldn't want _you_ to lose an ear."

Erestor, wide-eyed, grabbed his books, and his ink-sodden important work, and fled the room.

Glorfindel half-heartedly pursued him with the scissors, and then meandered back to Erestor's study. He pulled Harold and Haroldina off his hands, and folded them neatly. Then he leaned out the window. "Elladan! Elrohir! You can come in now!"

Two Elven twins scrambled into Erestor's study. "That's amazing, Glorfindel!" said Elrohir delightedly. "You got him out of here in less than ten minutes!"

"Yes, you did better than Estel," said Elladan. "He pretended to have broken his leg, and he lay underneath Erestor's window and groaned. Erestor said he was busy but he'd come out and help eventually."

"When was eventually?" asked Glorfindel with interest.

"We never found out. Estel gave up after an hour and a half."

"It's your turn next, Elladan!" said Elrohir. "See if you can beat Glorfindel's record!"

"Erestor-baiting must be Rivendell's most popular pastime," grinned Elladan.

"Here's to the four of us!" said Elrohir, turning a handstand. "Driving one Elf crazy at a time."

"Glorfindel's the best at it, though. We should disqualify him," said Elladan.

At that moment, Elrond looked into the room, frowning. "Glorfindel, what have you been doing to Erestor? He came to my study, very agitated and saying you'd been chasing him with scissors!"

Glorfindel smiled sweetly, his hands behind his back again. "Would you like to meet my friends, Lord Elrond?"

THE END


End file.
